Vishal Talreja

Vishal co-founded Dream a Dream (www.dreamadream.org) along with 11 others. Dream a Dream is a 17-year old professional organization that impacts the lives of 100,000 young people from vulnerable backgrounds through the active support of over 2500 volunteers.

Dream a Dream is acknowledged as an innovator in life Skills development amongst young people from urban slum communities, creating innovative ways for community volunteering and setting very high-standards of transparency, accountability and impact. In 2015, Dream a Dream was recognized amongst 10 Champions in the world that are “Re-imagine Learning through Play” in the 21st century by Ashoka and Lego Foundation. Dream a Dream has also being recognized as the Winner of the Outstanding Annual Report Awards; Amongst 8 Regional Finalists at the Apeejay India Volunteer Awards 2011; Winner of the silver award at the Global Sports Forum Barcelona; Awarded the Football For Hope Award from FIFA to support our Dream Life Skills through Sport Program; Runner-up of the Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project.

Vishal has co-authored a paper along with Dr. David Pearson and Dr. Fiona Kennedy titled, “The Life Skills Assessment Scale: Measuring the life skills of disadvantaged children in the developing world” and published in Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal, Volume 42, No 2 (2014).

Vishal is an Ashoka Fellow (www.ashoka.org), an Eisenhower Fellow and sits on Boards of Unltd India and India Cares Foundation. Vishal has been recognized as an “Architect of the Future” by the Waldzell Institut in Austria. He is also an advisor and mentor to The YP Foundation and Reap Benefit and is deeply committed to mentoring start-up NGOs and young social entrepreneurs.

Vishal believes that if we can re-imagine learning to develop empathy, creative thinking, problem solving and collaborative working skills amongst young people, they will be able to overcome adversity and flourish in this fast-changing world.